Assessing Spectroscopic-Binary Multiplicity Properties Using Robo-AO Imaging

Abstract

We present higher-order multiplicity results for 60 solar-type spectroscopic binaries based on 0.75 micron imaging data taken by the Robotic Adaptive Optics system (Robo-AO) at the Kitt Peak 2.1m telescope. Our contrast curves show sensitivity of up to ~5 mag at ~1 arcsecond separation. We find tertiary companions for 62% of our binaries overall, but find this fraction is a strong function of the inner binary orbital period; it ranges from ~47% for P_{binary} > 30 days to as high as ~90% for P_{binary} <= 5 days. We similarly find increasing tertiary companion frequency for shorter period binaries in a secondary sample of Kepler eclipsing binaries observed by Robo-AO. Using Gaia distances, we estimate an upper limit orbital period for each tertiary companion and compare the tertiary-to-binary period ratios for systems in the field versus those in star-forming regions. Taken all together, these results provide further evidence for angular momentum transfer from three-body interactions, resulting in tight binaries with tertiaries that widen from pre-main-sequence to field ages.

16 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication to the Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (21)

• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• The Gaia mission
• Southern Massive Stars at High Angular Resolution: Observational Campaign and Companion Detection
• Tertiary companions to close spectroscopic binaries
• A survey of the high order multiplicity of nearby solar-type binary stars with Robo-AO
• Eclipsing Binary Stars as Benchmarks for Trigonometric Parallaxes in the Gaia Era
• VIP: Vortex Image Processing package for high-contrast direct imaging
• HST/NICMOS detection of HR 8799 b in 1998
• Close companions around young stars
• Contact binaries with additional components. III. The adaptive optics detections
• The statistical properties of stars and their dependence on metallicity
• Empirical Tests of Pre-Main-Sequence Stellar Evolution Models with Eclipsing Binaries
• Artificial Intelligence Approach to the Determination of Physical Properties of Eclipsing Binaries. I. The EBAI Project
• Wide, Cool and Ultracool Companions to Nearby Stars from Pan-STARRS1
• A catalog of wide binary and multiple systems of bright stars from Gaia-DR2 and the Virtual Observatory
• TICs 167692429 and 220397947: The first compact hierarchical triple stars discovered with TESS
• The Architecture of the GW Ori Young Triple Star System and Its Disk: Dynamical Masses, Mutual Inclinations, and Recurrent Eclipses
• The TWA 3 Young Triple System: Orbits, Disks, Evolution
• Robo-AO Discovery and Basic Characterization of Wide Multiple Star Systems in the Pleiades, Praesepe, and NGC 2264 Clusters
• Orbital and physical parameters of eclipsing binaries from the All-Sky Automated Survey catalogue - VII. V1200 Centauri: a bright triple in the Hyades moving group
• Fundamental properties of the pre-main sequence eclipsing stars of MML 53 and the mass of the tertiary

Cited by in corpus (7)

• TESS Eclipsing Binary Stars. I. Short cadence observations of 4584 eclipsing binaries in Sectors 1-26
• 15000 Ellipsoidal Binary Candidates in TESS: Orbital Periods, Binary Fraction, and Tertiary Companions
• 10,000 Resolved Triples from Gaia: Empirical Constraints on Triple Star Populations
• NGTS clusters survey -- III: A low-mass eclipsing binary in the Blanco 1 open cluster spanning the fully convective boundary
• A Low-Mass Pre-Main-Sequence Eclipsing Binary in Lower Centaurus Crux Discovered with TESS
• Were the Obliquities in DI Herculis Excited by an Unseen Tertiary Companion?
• The influence of tight binaries on proto-planetary disk masses